Python-iView has received another update today, as a result of the ABC changing their SWF verification keys without notice.
The usual to get the update:
$ bzr pull
Don’t forget, Doctor Who is on iView at midnight this Friday. I’m excited! 
(What I presume that means is 00:00 on Saturday, but I think I’ll check at 00:00 on Friday just to be sure.)
ABC iView has now been updated to version 341, and with it came an update that broke backwards compatibility. Thanks to Jim, this has been fixed already in Python-iView.
The usual trick to get the update
$ bzr pull
By the way, Python-iView is now able to produce .deb packages. That means an apt repository for Python-iView could be coming soon.
Python-iView users are invited to update their setups to support the latest JSON–based index the ABC pushed yesterday. The index is in a more compact format, which means that loading the GTK+ interface should be faster for you.
Not only that, but the ABC have cleaned up all their blank programmes from the index, which should make picking and choosing something to watch.
Without further ado, here is the usual to get you to the latest version:
$ bzr pull
This latest update requires the use of the json module, which is only available for Python 2.6 users. I fall back to the user of simplejson if json is not available, so you may need to install the module manually (either from the simplejson website, or from your distribution’s package manager, e.g. python-simplejson for Debian or Ubuntu) if you use Python 2.5.
You may have seen the workaround I presented to Python-iView users who wanted MP4 support, and wanted it now.
Also, (this has probably got to be the biggest duh moment for me in a year) I discovered Python-iView actually didn’t support those of you who use Akamai-based servers with iView. This includes all users who don’t have iView unmetered, as well as iiNet users. Sorry about that!
Well, now, if you type bzr pull, both MP4 and Akamai support work beautifully.
One thing to keep in mind is that the iview-cli programme has been changed to print out .flv and .mp4 extensions, which you mustn’t strip off when you paste it on to iview-cli --download. This is so it knows which version to ask for. No, they are not interchangeable — keep it what it prints out. (iview-gtk users don’t have to worry about any of this.)
Now all I need is Save dialog support for iview-gtk, and to package it up in .deb and .rpm formats, and it’ll take over the world! Oh, category support would be nice too.
G’day Python-iView’ers. As you might know, the ABC has been transitioning to MP4 (with H.264 video) for a lot of their videos.
iview-gtk doesn’t yet support it, but here’s how to do it with iview-cli. First, find an MP4 video:
$ ./iview-cli --programme [...] Compass Series 23: Compass Series 23 Episode 47 (compass_09_23_47.mp4) [...]
Then, download it like so:
$ ./iview-cli --download mp4:compass_09_23_47
So, basically, strip the .mp4 off the end, and add mp4: at the beginning.
The pattern seems to be slightly inconsistent, so I haven’t been able to code up something to do it automatically, but once I figure it out, I’ll make it all automagic for you. This is just something to use in the meantime.
Hope this helps.
Copyright © 2010 by Jeremy Visser and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License unless otherwise noted.